The first tale in the 'Gemstone Chronicles' is an endearing love story, endowed with marvelous, well-developed characters, but it also has its dark side, featuring malicious villains with hidden political agendas...

Reading 'The Carpenter' for the second time was easy for me because even though all of Serena's men in the 'Workplace Encounters' series are terrific characters, Tom and Matt are two of my favorites, at least so far.

Finding Elliot (Men of Riverside 1)

Release Date: 22 November 2010

Description:

After five years of forced separation David was determined to find Elliot again - but what he gets isn't the closure he was hoping for...

After yet another unsatisfying one-night stand David Lear decides it's finally time to find his former lover Elliot Watkins. He needs closure before he can move on. He is still angry at the man for never getting in touch after his parents moved away when David and Elliot were caught kissing at age seventeen.

Elliot Watkins has never forgotten his first and only lover David but lives under his father's scrutiny, too afraid to come out before he gets access to his trust fund when he turns twenty-five. His fiancée Patricia Hobart constantly nags him and he wants nothing more than to live his own life and to become an architect.

Falling back into each other's arms is relatively easy. But will Elliot be able to free himself from his father's influence? Will David be able to forgive his lover and have the patience to wait until Elliot is ready?

"Elliot!" David pushed one last time and shuddered as he came into the condom in short bursts. The relief was as explosive as it was short lived.

"What the fuck?"

The stranger's voice brought David back to reality. Shit, this wasn't Elliot, the man he still loved. This was some stranger he'd picked up at the Riverside New Year's party. They'd had a good time, but now he couldn't even remember the guy's name. He closed his eyes for a moment. The situation was too embarrassing for words.

"I'm sorry." David pulled out, dealt with the condom and donned his clothes as quickly as possible. Thank God it was mostly dark so he didn't have to look the stranger in the eye. "I'm really, really sorry. I shouldn't have agreed to this."

"I'll say!" The stranger switched on a bedside lamp, trying to cover himself with the sheet at the same time.

The light made David look up. The only similarities with Elliot were the man's dark curly hair and his deep blue eyes. Nothing else about him looked right, and David couldn't for the life of him explain why he'd gone with the guy. Trying to forget Elliot was as close to an answer as he could come. Considering he'd been doing that for years, without even a trace of success, only made the situation even more pathetic.

"I'm really sorry." David cringed at his inability to say anything more sensible. He'd had his share of encounters in clubs, even the occasional visit to a stranger's apartment, but he'd never actually said Elliot's name when he was with another man.

"Look, I know this is only a one-night stand. But we did exchange names and I sort of expected you to at least remember that." The stranger sat up and raked a hand through his short curls. "It's not a real problem for me, but I think you need help. You're still hung up on this Elliot guy."

David nodded. He'd gotten the message loud and clear this time. He couldn't say or do anything to make this situation better so he left the bedroom, grabbed his coat from the back of the sofa in the living room and hurried out.

What had he been thinking? He closed the door of the stranger's apartment behind him, made his way down the stairs and got into his car. The new year had started only hours ago. It was still dark and he was still alone. He shook his head as he drove along the deserted streets of his hometown. At twenty-two he should have known better than to expect another one-night stand to be the solution to his problem, no matter how attractive the guy had seemed.

He was still hung up on Elliot, even five years after they'd been forcibly separated when Elliot's parents had moved away from Riverside. He'd never heard from Elliot again and hated to admit how much that still hurt. He hit the steering wheel with an open hand and the pain was almost a relief. He wasn't one to make New Year's resolutions, but this was different. There wasn't anything he could do on New Year's Day, but as soon as it was over, he was going to get help.

* * * *

The next morning, David stood in front of the office of Russiter Investigations, his woollen coat pulled tightly around himself. He hoped that his friend Peter would arrive soon so he could step inside the office building. The cold January air was crisp enough to make him shiver, even though there wasn't much wind.

"David Lear, what a surprise to see you here this bright and early." Peter's voice came from behind him. "Must be urgent or else you'd have come at a more civilised hour."

"You're right, it's urgent." David shook hands with his former high school classmate and college buddy. He watched him unlock the office door and switch on the lights before following him inside, carefully closing the outside door behind him. "You may not agree, but please hear me out. And don't laugh."

"That depends." Peter grinned as he led the way to his tiny office about halfway down the corridor with all his colleagues' offices. "Peter Adams, PI" was proudly displayed on the door. He switched on more lights and a coffee maker that sat on one of his filing cabinets.

"There's a rule that states that I'm not allowed to laugh at clients-"

"You're making that up." David smiled and sat down in the visitor's chair, across from Peter's cluttered desk. "But, if you want me to become a paying client so you can't laugh at me, so be it."

Peter's eyes widened.

"I do know that you need more paying clients, you've told me often enough." David grinned. "This is your lucky morning because I'm here to ask you for help."

"My paid help?" Peter looked so hopeful it was almost funny.

David nodded and glanced at the now hissing coffeemaker.

"Okay, in that case you can have some coffee." Peter got up, filled two mugs with the steaming liquid and handed one to David. "But I'll only let you pay if this is a real case, hear me?"

"Oh, this is a real case all right." David sipped the scalding coffee and sighed in relief as the caffeine made its way to his brain. "It's been something that's been on my mind for a while and I've decided that I need closure once and for all."

"Oh shit, this is about Elliot, isn't it?" Peter sat forward and stared at him.

"How did you know?" Not that it matters.

"What, you don't think being your best friend all these years means I know what's going on with you? We may have never talked about it after the first few weeks, but I've noticed that you haven't attempted to have a relationship again." Peter shook his head but his eyes showed a deeper understanding that came from his own situation. Or so David guessed.

"All right, yes. I can't seem to forget Elliot and the wonderful time we had. Even though we were only fifteen when we met in high school, we really connected on more than one level." David rubbed his temples, trying to dispel the encroaching headache.

"I know." Peter's voice was soft, and his eyes mirrored David's pain. "I saw you with him. I watched you become friends, then more. I really hated that his parents reacted so violently just because they found you kissing each other. You never even had time to say goodbye before they left town, did you?"

"No, I didn't. Maybe that's why I just can't seem to put Elliot behind me." David sat back in his chair, trying to relax. He had to focus on the current problem. "I keep expecting other men to affect me like he did but none of them has. I've come to the conclusion that I need to find out what happened to Elliot. I've got to have some kind of closure before I can move on."

"And that's where I come in, isn't it?" Peter slurped coffee in noisy little sips. "You do realise that there's not a whole lot I can do without having a real case, don't you? One that includes a formal report that I can base an invoice on, a briefing...you know what I mean?"

"No, I didn't know that. But I guess you just told me. So, how much can you do with what I gave you so far?" David finished his coffee and put the empty mug on Peter's desk. "Without breaking your PI code of ethics, that is."

"What do you want me to do?" Peter pulled a notepad from one of his desk drawers and dug out a pen from underneath the stacks of paper in front of him.

"I'd like you to find out where the Watkins family moved, where Elliot is today and what his current situation is." What David really wanted to know was why Elliot hadn't contacted him. Not that he expected Peter to find the answer to that question.

"I can probably get you that information." Peter looked up from his pad. "But what are you going to do with it?"
"I'm not sure. I guess it depends on what you find. I think I just want to know what happened, to get some sort of clarity." David shrugged.

He couldn't explain his feelings better, because he wasn't going to admit that what he really hoped for was to find a way of rekindling the friendship he'd shared with Elliot... if not more.

"Hey, I understand." Peter put his pad onto his desk and sat back in his chair. "I'll do everything I can because I know how important this is for you. It won't be too expensive, either."

"It doesn't really matter how much it costs. I can handle it, so don't worry about that." His salary as assistant sports coach of Riverside High wasn't huge, but he was paid enough to cover his simple apartment and the odd luxury here or there. Not that finding Elliot was a luxury. It had been bugging him for so long that it had become a necessity.